1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatuses for driving autostereoscopic displays, such displays comprising an array of display pixels arranged in rows and columns, and an array of elongate lenticular elements extending parallel to one another overlying the display pixel array and through which the display pixels are viewed.
2. Description of the Related Art
An example of such an autostereoscopic display device is described in European Patent application EP-A-0 625 861 where a spatial light modulator of the LCD type has a number of picture elements arranged as rows extending horizontally and columns extending vertically. Overlaying the spatial light monitor is a lenticular screen with the radius of the lenticules being selected in combination with the positioning of the screen relative to the picture elements such that the image due to differing groups of picture elements becomes visible at certain predetermined angles relative to the display screen. Where there are two images in the form of a stereoscopic pair being displayed, the viewer need only position themself such that the left and right eye receive the image from the different picture element groups to perceive a three-dimensional image.
It is accepted that driving the two channels of a stereoscopic display from two 3D graphics renderers, one per eye viewpoint, is in principle better than attempting to synthesise two images using one 3D graphics renderer. Advantages are as regards image quality and in potential for avoiding fatigue and nausea related side effects: the problem, however, is cost--particularly where more than two views are considered. The Philips 3D LCD, as described in a paper entitled "Multiview 3D-LCD" by Cees van Berkel et al presented at IS&T/SPIE International Conference on Electronic Imaging, San Jose Jan. 27 to Feb. 2, 1996, is currently available as a four view device. In a traditional implementation, four views require four 3-D graphics renderers if quality is important.